The Lunar Lupine Blade
by acw28
Summary: Jaune Arc always wanted to be a hero. Since his great-great-grandfather every member of his family has been a hero. Yet unknown even to Jaune this line of heroes went back much, much further. Now armed with a blade he was destined to possess, Jaune will stand by his friends as they defend Remnant from not just the creatures of Grimm, but something much, much darker...
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone, it's acw28 here with a brand new story!**

 **I know quite a few of you are probably wondering, "What's this guy doing, starting ANOTHER story!' Yeah, I know I've got quite a few ongoing projects that I really should work on (I've got three updates that are works in progress, I promise!), but I've had this idea, among many others, for awhile know. I first got the inspiration for the story after looking at dracohalo117's profile where I found the following story challenge:**

 _ **Bearer of the Legendary Sword**_ _: As Pyrrha and Jaune enter the cavern where the Deathstalker lies, the floor beneath their feet is not as stable as they first though. The cavern floor crumbles beneath them, as they fall into a hidden catacomb, long forgotten, filled with Grimm. In the freefall, Jaune lost his sword, and in a mad dash to re-arm himself, he grabs onto what he thinks is his sword, only to discover that his is not the only weapon that laid abandoned down here._

 _Jaune comes into possession of a legendary blade of some kind, either from an existing franchise, mythology, a sword of your own making, etc. However, that is not all, the blade passes on the skills of the wielder of the blade, either the most recent wielder, the one who wielded the blade the most, a combination of the previous wielders, or whatever you feel is best. However, the sword alters itself to fit Jaune's current physical state, while influencing Jaune's physical growth to better fit the soul remnant which resides within the blade, and slowly his physical structure changes to fit the wielder, as not only must Jaune face the creatures of Grimm, and other evils of the world, but he must do battle with the remnants of a lost soul in his own body, he will either succumb, overcome, or be lost forever._

 **Automatically my mind went to Jaune getting Soul Edge, but shortly after a different idea came to mind, but seeing as I was actively working on a few other updates at the time the story stayed there. However, the idea never left my mind and after watching the Volume 4 final I finally decided to take a crack at it. That said, like most of my stories, don't expect frequent updates, I'm very preoccupied in my real life at the moment, and updates will probably be like the initial RWBY episodes, short. Now, let's get on with the show!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or the Soulcalibur series.**

* * *

As he led his partner through the cave, Jaune Arc couldn't help but have a nagging thought that he didn't belong here. True, like every other student at Beacon Academy his dream was to be a Huntsman, to fight the creatures of Grimm and protect the innocent, but that was were the similarities stopped. Everyone else had attended a combat school in preparation for admittance into Beacon, he just happened to stumble upon a set of blank transcripts and filled in what was needed. How hard would it be, he had asked himself, sure that he would pick things up through his time learning. His family seemed to agree with him to a point, his parents allowing him to take the old family sword, Crocea Mors, with him but saying not to feel bad if it turned out hero life just wasn't for him.

It took Jaune less than a day to figure out he didn't belong. After suffering through the airship ride to the school, he had meet Ruby Rose, a young girl whose abilities far exceeded his own and allowed her early admittance into Beacon. Then he saw the girl's weapon, a giant hybrid scythe and sniper rifle that she'd built herself. That was just one more thing that set Jaune apart from everyone else, while everyone had some sort of range attack he could only rely on his blade.

From there everything just kept going downhill. After trying to set himself up for a good team with the beautiful Weiss Schnee he was rejected rather harshly. What followed was the "landing strategy" fiasco that would have resulted in him becoming a stain on the Emerald Forest floor if he hadn't been saved by his partner.

Said partner spoke up, saying "I'm not sure this is it." Out of the corner of his eye, Jaune glanced at the one and only Pyrrha Nikos, the glorious red haired, green eyed, four-time Mistral Tournament winner who happened to be his partner. Honestly Jaune didn't know why she had taken such an interest in him, especially after he only recognized her for being a cereal mascot, but after she'd saved him with her transforming sword, spear, rifle thing and unlocked his Aura, he was determined to prove that he wouldn't be dead weight.

Hence the pair's current situation. After exploring the forest for a bit looking for the temple ruins, Jaune had sighted the cave. Noting that Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of the school, never said where the temple would be, Jaune had the idea that the ruins maybe hidden from the students. So after quickly making a torch with a stick and some spare cloth, the blond lead his partner into the darkness. That was around twenty minutes ago, and Jaune was almost ready to agree with his partner, if it wasn't for his pride. After releasing a sigh, Jaune replied, "Pyrrha, I made a torch. Could you humor me for maybe, five more minutes?"

Before the Spartan could reply, Jaune tripped on the cave's uneven floor and dropped the torch into a puddle of water, instantly enveloping the two in darkness. Instead of being angry, Pyrrha asked, "Do you feel that?"

"Soul crushing regret?" Jaune asked, referring not only to dropping their only source of light, but thinking he could pull off going to Beacon.

"No," Pyrrha replied, "it's warm." Now it was the red head's turn to lead as Jaune tried his best to follow in the darkness. After stumbling for a few minutes, the pair rounded a corner and were bathed in a soft, warm, yellow light. Jaune was excited, believing they had found the relic required for final admittance into Beacon, but before he could move his eyes caught the outline of what appeared to be a giant scorpion. As if to confirm his suspicions, Jaune's partner hesitantly called out, "Jaune?"

"Yeah, we should get out of here." The knight stated as the pair slowly backed away from the Deathstalker. Seeing its prey about the escape, the giant Grimm screeched before launching its glowing stinger forward. The good news, both Jaune and Pyrrha were able to dodge the deadly weapon as it plunged into the cavern floor. The bad news, a mighty crack was heard when the monster drew back its stinger. There was nothing that could be done as the weakened floor collapsed.

* * *

Jaune screamed on the way down. While acting on instinct he'd angled his body parallel to the ever approaching ground and by sheer luck had managed to get a glimpse of the cave floor before he hit, making him able to accomplish a messy and somewhat painful roll. Pyrrha unfortunately wasn't so lucky. Alerted to his partner's location by a sharp scream, Jaune was able to stumble his way towards the red head to find her sitting on the ground using her shield Akoúo̱ to help steady her rifle Miló. After making sure he wasn't about to be mistaken for a Grimm, Jaune asked, "Are you okay?"

"Landed badly, feels like I've either twisted or rolled my ankle." Pyrrha admitted before stating, "At least the Deathstalker got crushed in the fall." Looking behind his partner, the teen saw this was indeed true as all that was visible of the beast was its stinger, the rest was crushed under a number of massive boulders.

Only now did Jaune think to look up and see how far they'd fallen. To his surprise he could just see the edge of the pit, perhaps sixty to seventy feet up. Although he'd likely fallen a greater distance this morning, Jaune couldn't help but think aloud, "Thank God for Aura."

"Indeed," Pyrrha agreed, "I should be good to go in a few minutes but until then we're stuck down here."

"Alright then," Jaune began as he looked around the cavern, spotting a side cavern as his eyes adjusting to the darkness, "you rest up and call if you need anything, I'm going to check this out." Before Pyrrha could voice her opinion of the plan being a bad idea, Jaune had already moved down the passage.

* * *

With his eyes adjusting to the darkness as he moved further down the passage, Jaune ideally ran he hand along the cave wall, listening to the slight scrapes of his fingers against the rock. However that wasn't the only sound present, further in the darkness the teen heard a series of growls, and they were coming closer. After a slight stall, Jaune acted quickly and moved to unsheathe his sword and shield, only to grasp thin air. His heart beating quicker, Jaune took a quick glance down, which only confirmed that he'd somehow lost the family blade! 'Great.' the blond began to rant in his head, 'First I almost died in the forest, and now I'm stuck down here without a weapon, I'm doomed!'

" **Maybe not,** " a deep voice spoke aloud. Before Jaune could ask who was there, and if they were reading his mind, an eerie red light illuminated a side passage the teen hadn't previously noticed. As the light slightly lessened, Jaune was greeted to the sight of an odd looking short sword, completely red in color, a skull resting in the center of the hilt, a large eye with a yellow iris just below it. As he further studied the blade, the Arc saw it was imbedded in the ground, some strange blue crystals surrounding it. Thinking he was going crazy, Jaune was about to walk away when he heard the voice again, " **Do you wish to die?** "

Not sure who he was talking to, Jaune hesitantly called out, "No."

" **Then come here** ," by some on seen force, Jaune felt himself drawn to the strange blade, " **remove me from this cursed cave, claim my power as your own and smite your enemies!** " Jaune reached out his hand towards the handle, but stopped short. Something about this sword just radiated evil, causing Jaune to draw his hand back. The next words spoken proved the teen made the right decision, " **What do you think you're doing whelp! Get back here and release me!** "

Shocked at the force of the words, Jaune backpedaled before tripping on something and falling on his back. Sitting up slightly and rubbing his head, Jaune saw that he'd tripped on another sword, this one odd looking as well. The blade appeared to be the standard length, and the hilt was the perfect length for two handed strikes, but the guards were shaped almost like another set of handles. Looking closer, Jaune could just make out a crescent moon in the center of the guard. So lost in thought was he that Jaune was genuinely startled when the first sword once more spoke, " **What are you doing boy?** " the weapon demanded, " **Stop looking at that piece of junk and do your duty.** " Instead of following the command, Jaune reached out and grasped the blade at his feet, feeling like it was meant to be as his fingers wrapped around the hilt.

Now armed, Jaune quickly got up to deal with the Grimm before they could threaten his partner. As he walked further into the cave, the knight choose to ignore what the words he heard, " **Get back here and release me you whelp! You will rue the day that you made an enemy out of Soul Edge!** "

* * *

After a small jog, Jaune came to a large chamber and meet his opponents. For once he was thanking his luck as while he would be facing around eight Beowolfs, they were all immature and lacking any bone growths, including the iconic helmet. As the Grimm started advancing towards him, Jaune decided to meet the clash head on and ran towards the monsters.

As he drew closer, the Grimm out in front jumped and tried to slash at Jaune. Seeing the move coming early, Jaune reversed his grip and deflected the strike with the flat of his blade. Not losing any momentum, Jaune continued forward and realigned his grip as he swung the blade in a high arc, sinking the blade into the head of the first Beowolf, bisecting it as the blade became stuck in the Grimm. Quickly grabbing one of the guards, Jaune braced his foot against the dead Grimm and pulled a bit too strongly, accidently hitting a Beowolf in the stomach with the sword's pommel, stunning the beast. Being sure to remember that, Jaune swung the blade laterally, decapitating the Grimm.

Seeing two of their comrades fall in such sort a time, the other six began to circle the blond teen. Jaune just stood patiently until one of the beasts tried to attack, the teen striking out with his sword, only for the Grimm to avoid it at the last second while one of its comrades struck Jaune's back. Thankful for his armor, the teen quickly turned on his heel, kneeing the Beowolf in the jaw before once more swapping the grip on his sword and driving the blade straight down into the beast's chest. Once the corpse disintegrated, Jaune stood ready in the center of the pack once more, only this time he was prepared. When once more one of the Grimm tried to attack, Jaune instead crouched and turned in one fluid motion, chopping off a leg of the Beowolf that tried to surprise him. As the beast howled in pain, Jaune quickly finished it off before turning his attention back to the other Grimm.

Realizing their tactic wasn't working, the four beasts stopped moving. The cavern was silent as all present waited to see what their opponent would do. Without any warning, two of the Grimm charged at Jaune. Not having much choice, Jaune allowed the one on his left to bite onto his armguard while aiming a straight strike to the one on his right. Thankfully his attack struck home and after removing the blade from the body, Jaune was quickly able to slide the blade through the neck of the Beowolf currently attached to his arm.

With the end of the fight almost near, Jaune decided to go on the offense. Catching one of the Grimm off guard, Jaune charged forward and swung his blade, only for the beast to continue to evade his strikes. Deciding he'd need speed over reach, Jaune shifted his grip to one of the guards, holding the blade parallel to his arm. First lashing out with a kick to stun the beast, Jaune followed up with a quick slash across the Grimm's chest before driving his arm back and stabbing the point of the sword through the new wound. The beast defeated, Jaune grabbed the sword's hilt before pulling it free in a large, overhead arc.

As Jaune prepared to fact the final Grimm, he noted that the cavern was quiet. A quick look revealed no other Grimm. Thinking aloud, the teen commented, "That's weird, I could have sworn there were eight, oh well." Any further thoughts were cut short as a gunshot ran out. Quickly turning, Jaune saw the last Beowolf fall to the floor dead, his partner behind it, still holding up her rifle. Jaune was about to thank her, until he caught the look in the red head's eyes.

As Pyrrha stalked forward, she began to lecture her partner, "I told you I'd be fine and to wait for me, but what do you do? You go running off getting into who knows what kind of trouble and leave me to worry about you! Especially after I found this back in the tunnel!" With a rough shove, Pyrrha returned Crocea Mors to the blond.

Now having the chance to speak, Jaune did want any sane man would do, apologize like crazy. "I'm sorry Pyrrha." Jaune began before explaining, "We wound up in this mess because of me, so I figured I should try and get us out. You've been amazing, but I've been nothing but deadweight so I figured I should try to be useful."

"Jaune," Pyrrha's voice took a lighter tone, "you're not deadweight. Maybe a little inexperienced but that's why you're here at Beacon, to learn and grow." The Spartan then noticed the new blade in her partner's hand, and the dissolving Grimm corpses. With a smile she stated, "And it looks like you were able to handle yourself just fine, I didn't know you had another weapon."

"I don't, I found this in the cave." Jaune confessed.

Raisin an eyebrow, Pyrrha asked, "So then what are you going to do with it?"

"I don't know," Jaune said as he examined the blade, "seems like it would be a shame to just leave it here."

"That does seem to be the case, and you are quit proficient with it, but you can make that choice later." Pyrrha offered, "For now, how about we try to get out of here?"

"Right," Jaune said as he slide his new blade into his belt and refastened Crocea Mors before walking over to one of the offshoots of the cavern. "Come on, I think this one goes up." Smiling at seeing Jaune's self-confidence return, the champion followed after her partner up the steep incline. After a few minutes of silence, Jaune asked, "Hey Pyrrha, back when you were looking for me, did you come across anything, I don't know, weird?"

After taking a few moments to think about it, Pyrrha responded, "Not that I could think of, why do you ask?"

"No reason really, just curious what secrets this cave maybe hiding." Jaune quickly said, wondering if his encounter with the so called Soul Edge was all in his head. However, the weight of the new blade on his left hip was evidence that it was all very real, maybe he should tell the Headmaster about the seemingly evil sword. Yet if Pyrrha followed after him and didn't see the sword maybe it was possible that only he could get to it, such things often happened in legends and myths. Deciding the conundrum was too much for his brain right now, Jaune resolved to focus on getting through the day above all else as he and his partner made it back into sweet sunlight.

* * *

After the excitement in the cave, it was child's play to find the ruins Ozpin had mentioned. The fight against the giant Nevermore, however, was a little difficult, luckily Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora were able to keep the giant bird distracted while Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang got in position to slingshot the young scythe wielder, her blade catching the Nevermore's neck as she ran up the cliff. So, after a short climb everyone was loaded up into a bullhead for the short flight back to Beacon to rest for a bit before the team naming ceremony.

After Ozpin had dismissed Team CRDL from the stage he called out, "Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie." Once the four teens had assembled in front of the headmaster, he continued, "The four of you retrieved the White Rook pieces, from this day forward you shall be Team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc." As the audience applauded Ozpin addressed Jaune directly, saying, "Congratulations young man." Jaune just smiled, but couldn't help but wonder if Headmaster Ozpin was looking at his new sword, those thoughts were abandoned as he tried to stay standing from a "friendly" love tap from Pyrrha.

After the group left the stage, Ozpin finished the ceremony by calling up Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang to declare them Team RWBY lead by Ruby. The festivities done, Ozpin dismissed everyone to their dorms to get some sleep. As they were going the same way, JNPR quickly caught up with RWBY, everyone choosing to ignore Weiss' slight pout at not being named leader. As the two teams moved towards their dorm rooms, each teen began to share their experiences within the Emerald Forest before everyone met up. The reactions ranged from amusement about Nora's sloth calls to Yang's eyes turning red at hearing how Weiss almost abandoned her little sister. Luckily before anything too bad happened Jaune was able to defuse the situation by retelling his and Pyrrha's mishap in the cave. Upon hearing her friend got a new weapon, Ruby halfway begged, halfway demanded to see the still unnamed blade, only to be slightly disappointed.

"Are you sure you can use this thing?" Ruby asked as she tried a different grip, "It's so unwieldy."

"You sure?" Jaune asked as he retook the blade, easily preforming a series of slashes before transitioning to one of the handle guards and holding the blade parallel to his arm. "Seems to handle just fine for me."

Ruby just rolled her eyes at the grinning blond before saying, "Fine, you found a weapon you're naturally good at," she soon regained her excitement as she asked, "So what are you going to name it?"

Jaune was silent for a moment as he looked over the sword before the perfect name came to mind. Almost without realizing it, Jaune said, "Kreuzgriff."

While most of the group exchanged looks of confusion, Weiss raised an eyebrow and said, "Cross Handle? Well I suppose it fits."

Now it was Jaune's turn to be confused as he asked, "You speak the old tongue?"

In reply, the Schnee nodded while saying, "A bit, it's to be expected of my family."

Now Jaune smirked as he said, "Combien de dialectes vous parlent ? Je connais deux."

Before Weiss could reply, Ruby spoke up, "Weiss, what did Jaune just say? And what do you mean by 'old tongue'?"

"If I remember correctly, the old tongue refers to any dead language from a time well before the Great War." Blake quickly supplied.

"Right," Weiss confirmed, "And Jaune just demonstrated that he's a bit smarter than we were led to believe. Perhaps I should have taken him as my partner back in the forest."

Although the atmosphere became quite tense at Weiss' words, Pyrrha quickly defused the situation by saying, "It's only the first night Weiss, couldn't you at least wait a week before you try and steal my partner?" Despite everyone laughing, Jaune couldn't help but feel like something was watching the group. As they made it to their dorm rooms, he felt that whatever being was watching the group now had its focus squarely on him.

Just as Jaune was about to close the door to his dorm room, he could have sworn he heard something say, "Not ready yet." Quickly looking both up and down the hallway, Jaune didn't know if he should have felt relieved at seeing no one. Deciding it was a mystery for another day, the Arc closed the door behind him, put Crocea Mors and Kreuzgriff by his bed, stripped off his light armor, and collapsed on the mattress, exhausted from the day. Still, he couldn't help but feel he was forgetting something. 'Oh well,' were the teen's final thoughts for the night, 'a problem for another day.'

* * *

As the students slept, Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch walked through the Emerald Forest, in search of a very specific cave. As the pair found their destination, Glynda followed the Headmaster into the depths of the cave, their only source of light being the Scroll flashlight app. After half an hour of silence, Glynda finally spoke up and asked, "Why are we out here again? We've already collected all the students who didn't make it to the temple."

"True Glynda, but tell me, did you notice something odd about Mr. Arc this evening?" Ozpin replied, not taking his eyes off the Scroll's screen.

"He had an extra weapon, not a major development since many kids in over their heads abandon theirs as they run away." Glynda replied, not seeing where her boss was going with this.

"True," Ozpin conceded, "but that sword is very distinctive. In fact I've only ever read about it once, in an old tale that I doubt few remember."

"And which one would that be?" Glynda asked, being part of the Headmaster's inner circle gave her a working knowledge of almost every fairy tale in Remnant.

Instead of answering, Ozpin kept walking until he came to a cavern lit by a dull red light. As Glynda caught up to him, the professor was shocked to find a truly odd sword stuck in the cave floor. Not even bothering to glance at his shocked employee, Ozpin said, "Glynda meet Soul Edge, one of two swords of the Hero King. Now if you would?"

Getting what Ozpin meant, Glynda reached out with her Semblance and with great effort removed the sword from the rock. While still levitating the weapon, the pair began to exit the cave as Glynda asked, "Hero King? As in the one who ended the Great War? If that's true then this maybe useful in fighting Salem."

Out of the corner of her eye, Glynda saw Ozpin give a slow shake of his head as he answered, "I'm afraid that the Hero King and Warrior King are two different individuals, the former much older. As for the sword, I'm afraid it will be no help to use, it is truly evil incarnate."

"So then I assume we are placing it in the vault so that Salem can't get to it?" Glynda hazard a guess.

"At least until we find the Hero King's other sword, then perhaps we can rid the world of at least one evil." Ozpin replied before sipping from his coffee mug, thankful to have found something of great power before the Queen turned it into another pawn.

* * *

 **With eight pages this is my shortest update thus far.**

 **Again, I apologize for not updating any of my other stories in the past few months (or years if you've been reading Son of the Sun), but life has kept me busy and this idea just refuses to go away. I've got one more story idea that I'm going to start (so maybe I'll get it written and uploaded within the next six months) before I go back to updating my stories. As a thank you for sticking with me through all this insanity, I'm going to set up a poll on my profile for which story my readers prefer I update first, so be on the look out for that.**

 **As with any story of my, there's always questions to be asked, such as…**

 **What was that voice Jaune heard?**

 **What will Ozpin do with Soul Edge?**

 **Will any other weapons from Soulcalibur appear in this story?**

 **To find out the answers to these questions and more, stay tuned for future instalments of** _ **The Lunar Lupine Blade**_ **!**

 **Until then, I'm acw28 saying, "until next update."**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone, I'm back with another update for** _ **The Lunar Lupine Blade**_ **!**

 **So it's been awhile since I last updated this story. I feel like something major happened…oh yeah,** _ **Soulcalibur 6**_ **got announced. Here's looking forward to the triumphant return of one of my favorite videogame franchises. In (a delayed) celebration, here's an update to help tide us over until we can return to the stage of history.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

After the initiation, Teams RWBY and JNPR managed to quickly settle into their school lives. There was some initial tension between Weiss and Ruby with the former believing she would be a better than the latter, but after a talk with Professor Port, a boisterous but wise instructor, helped the Schnee ease up a bit and started the two girls on the path of being friends. The other two members of the all girl team didn't have much difficulty either, while both became friends with the rest of their team, and JNPR, Blake remained her bookworm self and Yang continued to tell her puns.

Meanwhile Team JNPR had an equally easy time adjusting to life at Beacon, for the most part. Ren and Nora didn't experience many changes from when their previous lives, mostly just better beds, more friends, and more pancakes for Nora. Pyrrha had the best transition as although her teammates were aware of her accomplishments, none sought to use their teammates celebrity to their advantage, leading to Pyrrha finding three true friends.

As for Jaune…

Currently the knight was in combat class, facing off against Cardin Winchester, a tall teen wore full armor with his family's bird crest on the chest plate. Currently, the taller teen was battling Jaune with a large mace. Unfortunately Jaune's lack of combat training was becoming painfully apparent. As with the current times he'd been chosen to fight during class, Jaune was loosing…badly.

As Jaune was bent over, catching his breath from the latest exchange, Cardin confidently strove forward. Almost lazily, the teen swung his mace, Jaune just barely able to catch the blow with the blade. As the two deadlocked once again, Cardin pressed his advantage, forcing Jaune to backpedal a bit. With a smirk, the orange haired boy stated, "This is the part where you fall down."

Through gritted teeth, Jaune managed, "Over my dead…" Jaune would have continued speaking, had Cardin not kneed the blond below the belt. With the deadlock broken, Cardin tried to capitalize by swinging, trying to hit Jaune but only catching the other teens shield, sending the equipment out of the arena.

"You see that Arc?" Cardin challenged, "That's the result of having superior equipment instead of random junk you find in the forest."

Hearing his family heirloom being called junk riled Jaune up a little, but the teen knew he had to keep a clear head. Cardin had the advantage, in height, training, and in weaponry. Sure Jaune could use Crocea Mors with a two handed grip, but the teen knew it would be a weak stance that would easily be broken. With no other choice Jaune drew his second weapon, Kreuzgriff, holding the blade parallel with his forearm. In response, Cardin sneered has he rested his mace across his shoulders, "And now we have the other piece of junk."

"You say that now," Jaune replied, "but just think how embarrassing it will be once this junk beats you."

Cardin took the bait, charging forward. Once more he swung his mace, Jaune intercepting the blow with Kreuzgriff, his arm tingling from the impact but his blade holding true and protecting him. With Caridn wide open, Jaune struck out with Corcea Mors, landing a heavy hit on Cardin's midsection, taking the teen's aura from 95% to 80%. Growing angrier, Cardin activated the dust gem in the center of his mace and launched a downward strike, hoping to catch Jaune with a heavy blow, however the attack was broadcast and Jaune could have easily dodged. Instead the teen did something risky.

Switching the grip on Kreuzgriff, Jaune held the blade straight, then brought both his swords up to form an x, catching the shaft of Cardin's mace. While the taller teen was shocked by the block, Jaune kept going. Putting as much strength as possible in his movements, the knight swung outward with both blades, cutting the mace in half. As the head fell behind him, Jaune attacked the still stunned Cardin. As an explosion went off behind him, Jaune focused on the fight in front of him. Striking out with both swords, Jaune landed blow after blow against his opponent, not stopping until he heard a buzzer.

Leaving Cardin on the ground, Jaune took a few steps back as the click clack of heels alerted him of Glynda Goodwitch walking behind him. "And that is the match." Goodwitch commented as she walked forward before addressing the rest of the class, "As you can see, Mr. Winchester's aura is in the red, indicating an end to a tournament style duel." The combat instructor then turned to Jaune and complimented the boy, "Good use of tactics and weaponry Mr. Arc, but perhaps you should start the battle as such." She then turned to Cardin and lectured, "As for you Mr. Winchester, I recommend using her head as much as your strength in battles from now on. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf now would we?" In response Cardin just growled. Glynda would have continue to reprimand the boy, had the bell for lunch not rung for lunch.

Jaune was about to follow his team to the cafeteria, but stopped when Cardin yelled out, "I demand Arc be punished!"

"And just why should a student be punished for beating you in a sparring session?" Glynda challenged.

In response Cardin held up the broken shaft of his mace and said, "For destruction of another student's personal property, a violation of the student handbook."

"It happened in combat." Jaune tried to defend himself before turning to the instructor and asking, "I honestly can't be punished for this, right?"

"Honestly, this is a complex situation. I believe it's best to go to Ozpin and settle this." Glynda stated as she guided the two boys to the headmaster's office.

* * *

It took twenty minutes for Glynda to recap the situation to her boss, the entire time Cardin spent glaring at Jaune. Once Glynda finished speaking, the Arc tried to appeal to everyone by saying, "If this about Cardin's mace, can't I just pay to have it replaced."

Before either adult could respond, Cardin sneered and stated, "My mace was a custom made, well outside the price range of someone who fights with random hunks of metal."

Jaune was about to launch into a tirade about Cardin calling his weapons junk once more, only to have to stop himself when Ozpin raised a hand. "Now, Mr. Winchester, rest assure that your mace will either be repaired or replaced, however do you acknowledge that this incident happened during a combat scenario?"

"If you could call it a fight." Cardin replied with a huff.

"Then you are perfectly aware such things as this may happen during a fight." At hearing this, Jaune smirked, believing he'd done nothing. That was until the headmaster spoke up again, "Now for you Mr. Arc. Could you say that you, perhaps, used a bit more force than necessary."

Immediately Jaune wanted to say he'd only used enough force as necessary for the spar, however the headmaster's words gave the teen pause. After a few seconds Jaune nodded his head and said, "I suppose it's a possibility."

"Good, now here's what's going to happen. Cardin, Beacon staff will get straight to work on fixing your mace. As for you Mr. Arc, there won't be a mark on your record. Instead you'll be Mr. Winchester's assistant for the next week. Now I believe you two are late for lunch, we don't want any up and coming hunters missing a meal now do we?"

* * *

The walk to the cafeteria was silent. Once in the building, Cardin gave Jaune his first order, "Go get my food and make sure it isn't crap." As he waited in line, Jaune was tempted to just grab Cardin a salad and be done with it, but knowing he'd already be in hell for the week Jaune wasn't jumping at the chance to make things worse. Ultimately Jaune grabbed Cardin one of Beacon's standard burgers, as for his own lunch all the cafeteria had left was a plate of chicken nuggets and French fries.

With a tray in each hand, Jaune now had the herculean task of finding not only Cardin, but also his friends inside the big building. Thankfully his own team was rather easy to spot, Nora's excited movements easily being caught out of the corner of Jaune's eye. Cardin and his team were a few tables away, harassing one of the Faunus students, a bunny girl named Velvet that Jaune had run into a few times at the library. Seeing how no one was going to intervene even when the teen began pulling on Velvet's rabbit ears, Jaune was about to start a fight, consequences be damned, that was until he got a better idea.

As he walked behind Cardin, Jaune seemingly tripped on his own feet, falling. By some "miracle" Jaune kept his own food tray stead as he hit the ground. The burger, however, flew from the plate, hitting Cardin in the back of the neck. The taller boy inadvertently let go of Velvet as he felt the patty, pickles, mustard and ketchup slid down his neck and into his shirt. Once freed, Velvet quickly ran away, the mohawked Russel Thrush did nothing to stop her, while Cardin quickly rounded on Jaune.

"What the hell was that Arc!" the taller teen yelled.

"Sorry, guess I tripped." Jaune weakly said.

Was it wrong that Jaune took a small bit of pleasure in seeing Cardin's face get so red? The blond honestly thought Cardin was going to start a fight, but perhaps sensing the crowd around him the boy instead said, "Whatever, just go get me another lunch."

"Actually," Jaune began, "that was the last one."

In response, Cardin enacted an old bully standby, he stole Jaune's chicken nuggets. Really the knight should have given a bigger protest to having his lunch stolen, but right now he was just glad nothing too embarrassing had happened. Luckily his team members and the girls of Team RWBY shared parts of their lunch with him once the teen explained how he was basically Cardin's servant for the next week.

* * *

Later that night Jaune was alone in the dorm room working on Cardin's homework, apparently the other teen took "assistant" to mean "do everything for me or face my wrath." After finishing the paper that was assigned by Dr. Oobleck for Cardin's less than intelligent remarks in class. As he finished the last page, the pent up rage and frustration Jaune was feeling about Cardin, about his performance in Beacon, about his life in general finally released itself in a loud scream in the empty room, or so Jaune thought.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked as she entered the room, "Are you okay? I know that you've got a hard week ahead, but I'm sure you can do it. You didn't get into Beacon for nothing." Pyrrha tried to help out.

"But I didn't." Jaune said in a voice his partner barely heard. "You, Ruby, hell practically everyone here are amazing fighters, but not me. I never had any training, I had to lie to get here." The teen then got up and walked past his stunned partner to the closet, grabbing his clothes as he said, "I'm tired of being the weakest and not improving, I tired of being the one who needs saving. I don't know why I didn't see it earlier but I don't deserve to be here. I can get a hotel room tonight, then go home tomorrow. I'm sure Ozpin will give you a new partner, one who is actually as skilled as you."

As he went to leave the room, Jaune felt Pyrrha grab his shoulder very roughly. "You're wrong. Maybe you aren't the strongest now, but that doesn't mean you can't be better. You beat Cardin today, over half the class can't do that. You might now see it, but you are improving, so stay and let us help you."

"If I can't do this on my own, then what's the point in even trying?" Jaune challenged, only to be slapped to the floor by Pyrrha. While Jaune rubbed his cheek, he looked up to see a frowning red head.

"Do you honestly believe all of us were born as good as we are?" Pyrrha challenged back. "Ren and Nora have been training together for years, Weiss had military grade training from her sister, Ruby's been learning from her uncle since she was six, Yang's dad has been teaching her how to fight since she could walk."

"And you?" Jaune questioned.

Pyrrha looked down as she said, "Yes I'm a prodigy, but I wouldn't be one if my teachers didn't encourage my growth." She then tried to appeal to Jaune's sense of reason once more, "Maybe you got into Beacon via less than ethical means, but that doesn't change the fact you are here, and learning three combat styles no less! So for the last time, let your friends help you. I can show you some better stances for your sword and shield, Blake can give you some pointers for duel wielding, and I'm sure Weiss has read about something similar to Kreuzgriff before."

As Jaune sat on the floor processing everything Pyrrha had said to him, the teen realized how much of an idiot he was being. "Hey Pyrrha, thanks."

Pyrrha's smile returned, just as the door opened again. At seeing Jaune on the floor and the still fresh hand print on the blond's cheek, Nora instantly began crying, "Ren, the team mom and dad are fighting!"

It took a full ten minutes, and the promise of ice cream, to get Nora to calm down. By then the freshmen curfew had begun. With nothing else left to do, Team JNPR began getting ready for bed. As he began falling asleep, Jaune could have sworn he heard a voice say, "Still not ready, but close."

* * *

As predicted, the next week proved to be hell for Jaune. Cardin had the boy doing the most degrading of tasks, ranging from fetching his food to polishing his armor. To add insult, Cardin even had Jaune start doing his teammate's homework as well, reasoning it was the team leader's responsibility to make sure no one failed. Although in a surprise turn of events Russel refused all of Jaune's services. When the knight asked why, the dagger wielder shrugged before saying he came to Beacon to learn so why rob himself of the knowledge.

Thankfully it was the final day of Jaune's punishment, unfortunately it involved going to the Forever Fall forest, so named since all the tree leaves stayed red. The trip was a field trip for Professor Peach's class, although since the notoriously reclusive professor had yet to leave their, the students were unsure if Peach was a man or woman, office the trip was led by Professor Goodwitch.

"Now students, Professor Peach requires a large amount of sap for sampling. Therefore each of you is responsible for collecting one jar's worth." The woman explained as she used her semblance to unload the glass jars from the Bullhead. As the students collected their supplies they naturally began to partner off. Pyrrha was about to walk up to Jaune, only for Cardin to grab the boy by the collar as he said, "Sorry, but Arc is going to be working with us today."

After about an hour and a half Jaune stumbled into the clearing where Team CRDL was relaxing. After falling to the ground, the teen thought aloud, "I think I'm allergic to this stuff." Jaune's voice sounded a bit different due to his nose being clogged.

"Well done Jonny boy." Cardin commented as he got up. "Now seeing as this is your last day as my assistant, I figured we'd celebrate. Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I had you fill up six jars when you only needed five."

"Among other things, yes I've been curious about that." Jaune bit back.

"Well you see, your partner has been getting on my nerves recently." Cardin began to explain. "Always having the correct answers and showing me up in combat class," he held up the extra jar as he finished, "so now I think it's time little miss invincible felt what it is to be knocked off her pedestal."

Jaune was horrified by that bully's plan. He was going to speak out against it when someone beat him to the punch. "Isn't that a bit far?" Russel asked. "I mean I get that you don't like that chick but come on. That sap is known to attract Grimm, and I don't think anyone is particularly ready to deal with an Ursa right now."

Jaune was relieved that CRDL had at least one rational member, although their leader seemed less so. A red faced Cardin stalked towards Russel as he stated, "I am the leader, that means my word is law. If I saw we prank the bitch, we prank the bitch. You got it?" The taller teen finished his statement by standing directly in front of his teammate.

Russel was silent for a moment before he came to a decision. Take a few steps backward before turning on his heel, Russel walked away as he called over his shoulder, "Do whatever you want, just leave me out of it."

Cardin would have gone after his wayward teammate until he noticed a tiny detail, one of the jars was missing.

* * *

Pyrrha was with the remainder of her team and Team RWBY collecting sap, save Nora who kept attempting to eat it, when she heard glass breaking. Going where she believed she heard the noise, the Spartan climbed a shot hill and came to a clearing to see an infuriating sight. Sky and Dove held her teammate's arms behind his back while Cardin stalked forward, his armor stained by the sap.

"Big mistake Arc." Cardin taunted as he stalked forward, however the blond wasn't ideal. Seeing how his arms were useless at the moment, the teen instead used his legs. Using one of his feet, Jaune slid his appendage around one of Sky's ankles, hooking the boy and pulling backwards. As all three fell into one giant lump, the other two lost their grip on Jaune's arms. Quickly taking hold of the situation, Jaune delivered a quick elbow to each boy's unprotected throat, nothing too serious but definitely enough to keep them out of the fight for a bit. The blond then turned his attention to Cardin.

Launching forward, Jaune brought the taller teen down with a fist to the face. Unlike his teammates, Cardin managed to keep his senses as he fell, grabbing Jaune's extended arm and pulling the Arc to the ground with him. From there the pair engaged in a heated fist fight, their Auras being the only thing keeping black eyes and broken noses from developing. Somehow Cardin managed to get his legs under Jaune's stomach and kicked the shorter boy away. Quickly standing up, Jaune stalked forward and gave the still down Cardin one good kick before saying, "Embarrass and humiliate me, fine I can handle that. But you do not go after my friends!" Jaune would have continued the verbal beat down, had a loud roar not interrupted him.

Entering the clearing was a large Ursa Major, covered in white bone spikes. The negativity of the brawl, and the scent of Cardin's stained chest plate, had attracted the Grimm. Now recovered and having their breath back, Sky and Dove did what was natural to them, they ran. Although it saw the two boys running, the Ursa turned its attention to the greatest source of negativity present, Jaune.

As the beast roared and charged, Jaune on instinct went to draw his sword, only to grasp thin air as Cardin had forced the knight to leave his weapons behind, saying if he was going unarmed so was his assistant. With everything spiraling out of control, Jaune held up a fist and got read to hit the Grimm and yelled, "Will you shut up!"

" _Now you are ready._ " Jaune heard a voice say before a miracle happened. Jaune felt a small bit of his Aura vanish as what could only be described as a portal opened in front of him. Emerging from rift was a silver being with a wolf's head, its arms looking almost mechanical, in place of legs was a jet, and sticking out of its body was a large crescent moon-like object. The being wasn't ideal, charging forward to meet the Ursa. The Grimm, seeing a new enemy, reared up and attempted to swat the thing away, only to have its paw grabbed by the being. As the beast roared once more, the strange summon ended the fight, using a clawed hand to sink its fingers into the beast's throat before pulling upward, decapitating the Ursa.

As the summon hovered over its now dissolving enemy, it turned back to Jaune, who suddenly found his voice. "Thank you…E.I.N." Jaune said, suddenly knowing the name of his minion. In response E.I.N nodded before disappearing through another portal. The smile on Jaune's face fell when he turned back to Cardin, who was holding out a hand to be pulled up. In response, Jaune delivered a quick knuckle sandwich. "Get up yourself, we're done here." Jaune stated as he walked out of the clearing, passing by Pyrrha as he went.

Quickly Pyrrha caught up to her partner. "Jaune, what just happened back there?" she demanded.

"That," Jaune began, "was me probably getting a detention. On the bright side it appears I've finally found out what my semblance is."

* * *

By some luck Jaune hadn't gotten another detention. Either Goodwitch had been alerted to Cardin's plans or Cardin didn't feel like admitting he'd lost another fight to the Arc. Either way by the time Team JNPR got back to Beacon all four members were tired, exhausted, and dirty. Each had one thing in mind, a hot shower. Unfortunately the dorm rooms didn't have attached bathrooms, meaning to get clean the team would have to venture to the communal showers.

After grabbing their shower supplies, Ren and Jaune stood waiting in the locker room until Nora called out, "Okay boys, you can come in now." As he walked to his shower stall, Jaune couldn't help but wonder why Ozpin made the showers co-ed. Maybe the old man was trying to get the students used to living so close together since privacy is so scarce on missions. Whatever the case the teen was just glad that most teams had already gotten a shower, even if each stall had a curtain for privacy.

Finishing rather quickly compared to his teammates, due in part to having shorter hair and perfecting the art of a quick shower due to having seven sisters, Jaune quickly dried off in his stall before putting the towel around his waist. After gathering his cleaning supplies, the blond opened the curtain as Ren did the same, an relatively common occurrence. What was uncommon was when Ren spoke up, "Jaune, when did you get a tattoo?"

"A what?" Jaune asked, not remembering ever getting one as his sisters and Grandma Viola would kill him if he ever did so. In response, Ren nodded to Jaune's chest. When Jaune looked down, his eyes widened in shock. There, sitting on almost the entirety of his chest as a black crescent moon with intricate line work in the interior.

While Jaune tried to piece together how and when he'd gotten such a thing, and how he didn't notice it while he was showering. Nora decided to peak over the shower curtain and added her lien to the conversation. "Fearless leader got some ink done? Cool! Hey, we should all go get tattoos!"

While Ren started trying to convince his long time friend to at least wait a few years, or at least have a good design instead of making such a snap decision, Pyrrha moved her shower curtain slightly to see what all the fuss was about. Admittedly the tattoo didn't seem to be completely in Jaune's character, although she couldn't deny it added a rouge-like quality to her crush.

As everything was happening Jaune just shook his head before heading back to the dorm room, he'd figure this out later, right now he wanted to sleep.

* * *

The members of Team CRDL wanted to sleep as well, however their leader had different plans.

"Why are we out here again?" the ever squinting Dove asked as the team wondered around a cave system in the Emerald Forest.

"Because I need a new weapon." Cardin simply stated. He was tired of not having a weapon anymore. From what rumors he'd heard, Arc had found one of his swords in the caves. The Winchester knew in his heart the other boy wasn't naturally talented, so there must be some trick or gimmick with that sword. Once Cardin found such a weapon himself he'd show Jonny boy just who is the boss. In his haste to achieve that goal, Cardin hadn't allowed his team any rest. After dropping off his stained chest plate, he'd recruited the other three boys to help him look.

"But do we have to do it at night?" Sky called out from somewhere to Cardin's left. "This place gives me the creeps."

"Can it." Cardin roughly ordered. "Arc needs to learn his lesson, and if Ozpin or Goodbitch aren't going to anything I'll do it myself." Once the words were said, Cardin expected Russel to speak up again. The mohawked teen had been rather mouth lately, suggesting Cardin easy up on everyone. Even now the boy wasn't contributing much, just standing behind the group. Once Cardin found his new weapon, he'd have to straighten him out as well.

The next ten minutes were silent, save for Dove and Sky's constant mentions of wanting to head back. Cardin was about ready to yell at the pair again, only for his eyes to catch just a hint of light ahead. Walking forward, the tall teen could just barely make out the shaft of the weapon leaning against the wall. Grabbing and hefting the weapon up, he was surprised to find he was holding an axe with an extremely large blade. Slowly a smile appeared on Cardin's lips, his mace wouldn't be ready for weeks, and beggars can't be choosers. If he couldn't crush his enemies, he'd settle for dismembering them.

"Good you found something." Dove called out. "Now let's get going."

Cardin was about to speak, when he heard a rough voice, **'Power, we need more power.'** his team. Once more the voice called out, **'They have power. We must take it!'**

"Cardin, are you alright buddy?" Dove asked as he walked forward. His answer was the axe's blade to his head. The attack was so sudden that the teen didn't even have time to activate his Aura. As his body feel, Cardin turned to his remaining shocked teammates.

"Power!" Cardin roared, "Need more power!" He then charged at his former teammates. Russel and Sky tried making a run for it, the latter tripping. Russel made an attempt to go back and help his friend up, only for Cardin to reach him first, forcing the dagger user to run ahead or suffer the same fate. Although extremely frightened by what was happening, one detail stood out to Russel. Cardin's eyes now lacked a pupil, they were completely white. No matter how interesting though, that was a detail for later, right now Russel needed to make it out of the cave and find some Scroll service, his former leader needed to be stopped.

* * *

"Play it again Glynda." Ozpin said as the recording stopped. It had been a few hours since Team CRDL's room was found empty after curfew, shortly after an emergency call was made by one of the missing teens.

"Yes sir." Glynda replied as she keyed up the recording again. It was shortly after the call had ended that a team of experienced Huntsmen and local police officers went into the Emerald Forest, easily finding the cave system and the bodies of Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark. Cardin and Russel remained unaccounted for, and it the recording was any indicator neither would be found anytime soon.

" _You've got to help_ ," the recorded voice of Russel pleaded, " _It's my team leader, Cardin Winchester. He's gone crazy, he just murd-_ " the rest of the word was cut off by a scream of pain. The remaining message was nothing but a few sounds of a Scroll hitting the ground before being crushed underfoot.

After hearing the message countless times, Glynda spoke up, "Just what are we dealing with Ozpin? Is this related to that sword we pulled from the cave?"

"For once Glynda, I don't know." Ozpin admitted. "It seems that whatever this is, it's older than I am, had long been forgotten even before I was a boy."

"Could this be one of _her_ plans?" Glynda asked. "And what are we going to tell the parents? How can this school be safe when we have an axe murderer running around?"

"I don't think this is anything regarding Salem, which is just a troubling. A third party to this centuries old conflict with unclear motives save to kill, let us hope they never meet." Ozpin the glared as he said, "As for the parents, the Council has already told all four families their boys died during an unsupervised and unscheduled Grimm hunt. The Council doesn't think it would look good for Vale's image to have an unsolved murder so close to the Vytal Festival."

Glynda scoffed at that but said nothing. Every Huntsman and Huntress knew the councils were general useless to their line of work, filled with politicians that may do some good occasionally but are more interested in staying in power no matter the cost. All the woman could hope for was that Cardin would eventually be caught, and that his former teammates were enjoying a pleasant afterlife.

* * *

Russel awoke with a gasp. The first thing he noticed was that he was lying face down on the deck of a ship. He wasn't sure how this was possible. The last thing he remembered was running from his crazy ex-leader, of somehow Cardin catching up enough to slash him across the back, of his Aura breaking before Cardin snapped his neck and tossed him from the cliffs of the Emerald Forest into the river below.

"Good boy, you're awake." The teen thank whoever saved him, only to fall silent. Before him was a bearded old man with white hair wearing a ridiculous hat, but what stopped Russel's heart was the man's purple skin and white lifeless eyes, the same eyes Cardin had. "Boy, do you know how to sail?" Hesitantly Russel nodded, having learned a few summers back in Vacuo. "Good, if you had been dead weight I'd throw you back into the sea. Now get to work releaseing the sail."

"Aye captain." Russel said before rushing off to work, not knowing what was happening but knowing not to make the man mad.

The captain watched as his new charge got to work untying and retying various knots as he manipulated the rigging. It was tough work, but the teen seemed to manage just fine. Strolling forward, the man stopped at the edge of the bow as he looked to the horizon. 'Soon sword you shall return to your master, the immortal pirate Cervantes de León!'

* * *

 **So 11 pages, not my longest update but the chapters are slowly growing in length.**

 **I'm surprised I was actually able to cover that much in so few words. As you can tell I skipped the first few episodes after the Emerald Forest just because they really don't pertain to this story, don't worry though Team RWBY isn't going to be excluded from this tale. Mainly I just wanted to get the Jaundice part of the story over with, introduce a few more Soulcalibur weapons/characters, and get the ball rolling on a certain relationship a bit earlier than cannon did.**

 **A quick note about Jaune's future fighting styles, as Pyrrha said Jaune will have three. Right now my planning is that he'll switch between fighting styles as the situation demands it, much like how Blake will switch from wielding her bladed sheath solo to drawing her katana out of it and duel wielding. Hopefully as the story continues this will make more sense.**

 **So with this chapter over, a few more questions appear, such as…**

 **How will Jaune's training go?**

 **What was up with Jaune's tattoo?**

 **Who else will be getting a "special" weapon?**

 **To find out the answers to these questions and more, stay tuned for future instalments of The Lunar Lupine Blade!**

 **Until then, I'm acw28 saying, "until next update."**


End file.
